Ranger's Apprentice 3 & 4 Bindup Read Online Free

Skorghijl was an island, barely two kilometres across at its widest point. Apart from this one perfect natural harbour that had made it a refuge for Skandians during the Summer Gales, Skorghijl’s coast was an uninterrupted line of sheer cliffs, dropping into the sea.
    Will and Evanlyn moved to the bow of the ship, passing the Skandians, who were unshipping barrels of water and ale and sacks of dried food from the sheltered spaces below the centre deck. Will climbed over the gunwale, hung full length for a few seconds then dropped to the shale below. Here, with the prow canted up as it had slid up the beach, there was a considerable drop to the stones. He turned to help Evanlyn, but she was already dropping after him.
    They stood uncertainly.
    â€˜My God,’ Evanlyn muttered, feeling herself sway as the solid land beneath her seemed to roll and pitch. She stumbled and fell to one knee.
    Will was in no better state. Now that the constant movement had ceased, the dry land beneath them seemed to heave and lurch. He placed one hand against the timbers of the boat to stop himself from falling.
    â€˜What is it?’ he asked her. He stared at the ground beneath his feet, expecting to see it forming and rolling into hummocks and hills. But it was flat and motionless. He felt the first traces of nausea gathering in the pit of his stomach.
    â€˜Look out down there!’ a voice from above warned, and a sack of dried beef thudded onto the pebbles beside him. He looked up, swaying uncertainly, into the grinning eyes of one of the crew.
    â€˜Got the land-wobbles, have you?’ he said, not unsympathetically. ‘Should be all right again in a few hours’ time.’
    Will’s head spun. Evanlyn had managed to regain her feet. She was still swaying, but at least she wasn’t assailed by the same nausea that Will was feeling. She took his arm.
    â€˜Come on,’ she said. ‘There are some benches up there by those huts. We might be better off sitting down.’
    And, lurching drunkenly, they stumbled through the shingle to the rough wooden benches and tables that were set outside the huts.
    Will sank gratefully onto one, holding his head in his hands and resting his elbows on his knees for support. He groaned in misery as another wave of nausea swept over him. Evanlyn was in slightly better shape. She patted his shoulder.
    â€˜What’s causing this?’ she said in a small voice.
    â€˜It happens when you’ve been on board ship for a few days.’ Jarl Erak had approached behind them. He had a sack of provisions slung over one shoulder and he swung it down to the ground outside the door of one of the huts, grunting slightly with the effort.
    â€˜For some reason,’ he continued, ‘your legs seem to think you’re still on the deck of a ship. Nobody knows why. It’ll only last a few hours and then you’ll be fine.’
    â€˜I can’t imagine ever feeling fine again,’ Will groaned in a thick voice.
    â€˜You will be,’ Erak told him. ‘Get a fire going,’ he said brusquely. He jerked a thumb towards a blackened circle of stones a few metres from the nearest hut. ‘You’ll feel better with a hot meal inside you.’
    Will groaned at the mention of food. Nevertheless, he rose unsteadily from the bench and took the flint and steel that Erak held out to him. Then he and Evanlyn moved to the fireplace. Stacked beside it was a pile of sun and salt dried driftwood. Some of the planks were brittle enough to break with bare hands and Will began to stack the slivers into a pyramid in the middle of the circle of stones.
    Evanlyn, for her part, gathered together bunches of dried moss to act as kindling, and within five minutes they had a small fire crackling, the flames licking eagerly at the heavier pieces of firewood they added now to the blaze.
    â€˜Just like old times,’ Evanlyn murmured with a small grin. Will turned quickly to her,